Time
by Urby
Summary: The elilogue, alternate ending, whateveryouwannacallit of Crimson. Lloyd vanishes, Raine's got a mysterious package, and Byruu sings. Read on...


**Disclaimer/Explanation thingy:** I don't own Namco. 'Cuz if I did I'd, I wouldn't write fanfiction.

Why is this, if this is the epilogue of Crimson, posted as a one-shot, you ask? Because I feel that the ending in Crimson might be sufficient for some and this is more like an alternate ending then an epilogue. Yeeyy, me trying to write tragedies. (Spoiler!)

And no, I don't own any of the songs sung in this fic. And Byruu is supposed to sing the song she sings a bit funny. It adds to the humor value.

_Who can say where the road goes,   
__Where the day flows?   
__Only time...   
__Any who can say if your love grows,   
__As your heart chose,   
__Only time...   
__Who can say why your heart sighs,   
__As your love flies?   
__Only time...   
__And who can say why your heart cries,   
__When your love dies?   
__Only time...   
__Who can say when the roads meet,   
__That love might be,   
__In your heart...   
__And who can say when the day sleeps,   
__If the night keeps all your heart?   
__Night keeps all your heart...   
__Who can say if your love grows,   
__As your heart chose?   
__Only time...   
__And who can say where the road goes,   
__Where the day flows?   
__Only time...   
__Who knows?   
__Only time...   
__Who knows?   
__Only time...   
_-Only Time by Enya (keep it in mind, doods)

* * *

Colette turned over. "Lloyd, are you awake?" 

No answer. For a fleeting moment she thought that he was still asleep, but she knew in some way it wasn't true.

She got up and shook herself lightly. Dust motes fluttered around, shining faintly in the morning light.

_If he left, where would he be? And why didn't he tell me?_

She looked out the window. _Maybe he went shopping for some groceries...and he'll be back in a minute._

_And maybe you should stop lying to yourself and do something about it, you lazy bum. Go ask someone if they saw where he went._

The others were somewhere among the somewheres, going about their own lives and doing what they wanted to. The only person she knew for sure where they were was Raine, she had returned to her house in Iselia. Finding that out was a stroke of luck, they'd come across her on a walk. Going there was a short and uneventful flight.

Colette approached the house warily, hearing a few voices conversing.

"Yah, I wonder where he is."

"When's the last time he contacted you?"

Raine's voice sighed. "Three months ago with this letter. No return address."

There were three people. That was for sure.

"Lemme see that letter," one of the voices, the first one, demanded. A sound of paper being passed and roughly taken.

"Disappointing," the other unknown voice concluded.

"Let's just forget about it, okay?" Raine sighed again. "It doesn't matter anymore."

There was an uncomfortable silence.

Colette knocked on the door shyly.

Another silence.

"Is it my turn to get the door?"

"Naw, it's mine actually, but you can if you want."

"Just someone, get it," Raine's angry voice fumed, opening a window.

Colette braced herself. _Something bad is going to happen..._

A screeching bird flew out the open window and dive-bombed her. Colette shrieked, protecting herself with her wings. _Oh, I hate it when I'm right!_ She pounded on the door, yelling. "Professor, Professor, it's me, Colette! Let me in!"

"Theo, stop!" Raine opened the door hastily and shooed the bird inside. "I'm so sorry! I thought you were one of those door-to-door salesmen. They never leave us alone."

The bird cawed apologetically before flying in.

"Come in," Raine continued. "Next time, tell me who you are before I send one of them after you."

The bird perched on a bookcase, preening. A white cat approached Colette gingerly, its tail swishing gently.

"Where are the two people you were with?" Colette asked, picking up the cat. It had a black crescent moon mark on its forehead, but it was otherwise mark-free.

Raine turned. "There's no one except us, Colette."

Colette sat and scratched the cat's ears. "I could have sworn I heard you talking to two other people."

"The animals can't talk," Raine reached for some teacups in a cupboard. "Tea?"

"Yes, please," Colette watched as the bird flew in idle circles around the cat, who batted at it lazily. "What are their names?"

"Bird, Theo. Cat, Pheo." Raine put a kettle of water on the fire. Pheo heard the kettle sing and jumped on the kitchen table to fetch the teabags. Colette watched in quiet awe.

"So, what brings you here to grace my lonely life with your presence?"

Colette looked down into her cup of tea, watching as it rippled. "Lloyd...he's gone."

Pheo, Theo, and Raine all looked up. It was almost comic the way they moved in sync.

"So...I was wondering if you knew where he went?" Colette asked hopefully.

Raine shook her head. "Last time I saw either of you was that one time you walked by the house."

Colette sighed sadly. Pheo padded over to her, purring in a reassuring way. She stroked the cat without thinking.

"He just left?"

Colette nodded.

"You've been together ever since the defeat of Mithos?"

Colette nodded again.

"You still have the body of a sixteen year-old, or maybe even an eighteen. It's been five years, though."

Colette choked on her cup of tea. "Five years?"

"Lloyd hasn't aged as well?" Raine asked, wrestling the sugar basin from a reluctant Theo, who was perfectly greedy in pilfering from the container. Finally, Raine succeeded in separating the bird from it.

On an odd little sugar high, Theo crowed and perched on Pheo's head. Pheo growled leisurely and batted at him.

"You two are such an odd pair," Raine mused. Colette wondered whether she was talking about Pheo and Theo, or Lloyd and herself.

Presently, there was another knock on the door. Pheo slipped away and leapt out the window. Raine sipped her tea quietly, waiting.

Pheo yowled in a confused way and scratched the door. Colette, being the closest, opened it and let the cat in.

"You have a package, Raine."

Raine carried it inside. "That's funny. I thought no one knew where I lived."

Pheo and Theo jumped up and down enthusiastically, waiting for their owner to give the order to tear the box apart. It never came.

"There's a letter attached to it," Colette pointed out.

Raine took it, looking at it. "No return address...yet again." she grabbed a knife and cut it open.

Colette sat still, swishing the tea around in her cup, watching the bits of tea leaves dance.

Raine made a strangled gasp sound and the knife fell from her nerveless fingertips. She caught it barely, by the blade. She cursed and had a look at her hand.

"Colette, could you fetch the first aid kit? This is going to hurt in a while..."

Colette finished wrapping Raine's hand in a bandage and sat back to admire her handiwork. "Professor, what was that letter about?"

Raine exhaled slowly. "A will. From an old friend...just when I was thinking about what happened to him..."

Colette looked down sadly. "Will you be alright, Professor?"

Raine waved her good hand. "I've had worse. The way you're going about it, I might as well chopped my entire arm off. Everyone's had worse. I'll be fine."

"That's not what I meant," Colette glanced over at the will.

Raine followed her gaze. "Oh, that...I was just surprised a bit, that's all."

"Who was it?"

Raine hesitated and turned aside. "Someone I befriended while you were gone. No one you knew."

Colette went back to her forgotten cup of tea. Five years...

"There's something for you," Raine commented, finding something on top of the package. "The person mustn't have known your address."

Colette grabbed the thing, a little brown bag, and tore it open. "Oh! It's one of those Flanoir Snow Bunny charms."

Pheo batted at it with mild interest. Raine studied it. "Don't you think...that there's something...wrong with it?"

Colette examined it. "No...I think it's perfectly fine."

Raine gave it to Pheo, who sniffed it and sneezed. "Yep. There's definitely something wrong with it." Raine took out the knife again, picking at a certain spot. "I knew it! There's a hole in it, but someone's covered it up with glue. Look, right here."

Colette gasped. "That's...Lloyd's Snow Bunny!"

Pheo and Theo looked at her quizzically. "See, see," Colette continued. "Right here...that's where the bunny got stabbed by that arrow! And here's where Noishe bit on it...it's his, I know it is!"

Pheo clawed the hole, meowing. A note fell out of it.

"What's this?"

The note was written hastily in red ink. _Flanoir._

"It's Lloyd! I recognize his handwriting!" Colette squealed. She bolted out the door, taking off. "Thank you, Professor! I liked the tea!"

There was a moment of quiet. Raine picked up one of Colette's feathers that had blown off during her hasty exit.

"You lied, Raine."

She looked at the speaker, Theo. "So maybe I did. And?"

Pheo licked his paw. "No...we just thought it was surprising. Thought you'd tell the truth."

"Well, she'll figure it out somewhere," Raine picked up the will. "Now, where am I on this?"

* * *

Colette landed softly on the snow. She had many good and bad memories of this place, and the snow kind of surprised her. She hid her wings under her cloak. Something she learned over the years was that people were slightly afraid of angels. Even innocent-looking ones. 

_I have to ask someone where Lloyd is, other than the fact he's at Flanoir I know nothing. Wonder if Byruu's still here..._

Colette made her way to the inn. "I'd like a room, please."

The clerk shook his head. "Sorry, no vacancies. We have one room, but no one ever goes in it."

Colette tipped her head slightly. "Why?"

The clerk had a look around to see if anyone was listening. "Okay, I'll tell you, but you didn't hear it from me, okay? So, about...ah, five, six years ago, they say there's this girl, (you actually look a lot like her, missy) and she had a terrible curse. There was this beast that rose out of her shadow when she was asleep to wreak havoc. It ate her pet dog, among other horrible things. Then, one night, it wrote a message in blood on the wall. The girl and her companions vanished that same night. No one has gone in there since, afraid of the beast that still hides somewhere in the room, in a pot shaped like a fish."

Colette tried to contain her laughter at the dramatization of her last stay here, much to the clerk's confusion.

"You okay?"

Colette recovered quickly. "So you're afraid of an old story that the locals made up? I'm taking that room."

"No, no, it's true! Sometimes the beast gets out and steals from the kitchens!"

"Just for a night."

The clerk scratched the back of his head. "Well, I declare. Anyway, here're the keys. Good luck."

Colette unlocked the door. A faint, hallow tune resonated from a corner.

"**I'm a bee-yatch, I'm a lover,   
****I'm a child, I'm a mother,   
****I'm a sinner, I'm a saint,   
****I'm everything you ain't!**" Byruu's voice sang.

"Byruu?" Colette knelt to examine the fish pot near the door.

Byruu poked her head out. "Hey! Welcome back, you lazy lump!" she pounced on Colette's head, chewing lightly on her hair. "So, person-who-hasn't-visited-in-forever, I gotta lotta questions for you! Mewl."

Colette shook her off. "Okay, start asking."

"Number one," Byruu began, hanging upside-down in front of Colette. "Have you kissed anyone yet?"

Colette blushed. "I haven't seen you in five years and _that's_ your first question?"

Byruu nodded. "Well, it's too late to ask another first question. Now, how about an answer, mew?"

Colette turned her head shyly. "Yes..."

"Okay, now spill it. How was your first kiss?" Byruu pointed at her, a look of dead seriousness on her face.

Colette looked at Byruu's face. "Uh, if I remember correctly..."

Byruu's tail was tying itself into knots out of anticipation.

"Sloppy," Colette finished. "But still special."

The tail tamed itself and Byruu looked visibly dampened. "Oh...was there alcohol involved?" there was a hint of disappointment in the tone of voice.

"Of course not, oh unintelligent one," Colette pulled on Byruu's tail. "We were inexperienced, okay?"

The Half-Katz fell from the ceiling. "Ouchies! How come everyone wants to yank my poor tail, mewl?" Byruu petted her tail protectively. "Okay, second question. Do you have any brownies on you?" she crawled over Colette, looking in her pockets for the tasty treat.

"No," Colette peeled the half-Katz away from her. "Sometimes you remind me more of a monkey than a half-Katz."

"No brownies? Aww, man! I would have eaten more if Presea hadn't scarfed them all first." The half-Katz pouted, mumbling.

"Byruu, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, mew."

Colette took out the Snow Bunny. "Do you know where Lloyd is?"

"Course I do. Th-" she cleared her throat. "He hasn't told you where he went?"

Colette shook her head.

Byruu looked out the window, which hadn't been cleaned since their last stay. Her tail wagged from side to side halfheartedly. Maybe she was thinking...?

"You see...those mountains over there?" she asked, pointing at the mountains poking above the sea beyond Flanoir.

Colette turned. "Yes."

"He's waiting...for you. On one of them. Mewl. Promise you'll come back?"

"Of course I will. You're acting like I'm going off to war and I'm going to die along the way." Colette ruffled Byruu's hair.

"Just making sure. Mew. And bring back some brownies or else the beastie is going to be out for your head." She stomped around the room, making roaring noises. Apparently she knew about the whole monster bit.

"Thanks," Colette got up to leave. "I'll think up of something for you."

Byruu waved goodbye with her tail and continued her little rampage. Colette walked out of Flanoir, made sure she was out of sight, and spread her wings.

Byruu looked out the window again, ears drooping. _They didn't tell you...

* * *

_

Colette alighted on the mountaintop.

"Lloyd?"

No answer. Again.

She walked quietly through the snow, calling out for him. "Lloyd? Lloyd, it's me! Please, say something!"

Colette saw something in the mist. _Is it...no, it can't be..._

She ran over to his still form, crying out in disbelief.

He coughed and looked up. "Colette?"

Colette closed her wings around him. "What happened?"

He shook his head, wheezing.

Colette looked around desperately. His temperature wasn't at a very healthy level...and neither was anything else. She had to get him out of the cold.

"Hold on to me," she said quietly, spreading her wings for flight.

He grabbed on feebly, passing out.

Colette soared, trying to find the nearest hospital somewhere warm.

_Sybak...? If I can get there in time...

* * *

_

"Azure, quite doodling in your notebook and take notes!"

Azure received a fwap on the back of her head with a ruler.

"You _are_ here to get an education, am I right?"

Azure nodded, massaging her head.

"**THEN TAKE NOTES**!"

Azure sighed and looked at the board. The teacher had gone back to the front of the room, lecturing in a monotonous tone.

_I like my Summon Spirit class a whole lot better...we get to study about noble souls and once, we got to see that one summoner apprentice kid bring up that big wolfy thingy instead of taking notes on angels..._

Azure drew what she remembered of the "wolfy thingy". The actual summon was an accident, and the appearance of the spirit was very brief. But in that half second it existed, Azure saw a sense of..._duty_ in its eyes. As if it still had something to do, but could never do so. When she told the other students, they said they never saw anything and she should lay off the late night snacks.

_Feh, I don't even eat late night snacks..._

There was a disturbingly loud _thump_ sound on the roof and some of the ceiling tiles fell on an unexpecting student.

"Now, class, do not panic..."

There were voices coming from the roof.

"Someone, help us get these two kids off here!"

Azure and some other undergraduates rushed outside, much to the protests of their instructors. She shielded her eyes against the sun, shouting, "What's going on?"

An employee climbed precariously down a ladder, carrying the unconscious forms of two adolescents. Azure and her fellow classmates gasped. From the back of one, a pair of glossy white wings fluttered.

"An honest to goodness angel!" screamed someone, pointing.

"Get them to the medics," the staff member handed them off to the two nearest people, Azure and some other random dood. "They're not in good shape."

They both nodded and dashed off.

"This sure is a lot more interesting than taking notes," the other dood remarked.

Azure snarled.

"Jeez!" the other dood hissed.

Azure sighed, taking a shortcut.

In her arms the girl jolted, opening her eyes weakly.

"Hey...uh...you okay?" Azure asked dumbly, staring into the angel's deep, piercing eyes. The shade of blue they were was simply...mesmerizing.

The girl stared back in a similar fashion, her face a picture of worry and confusion. "Lloyd?" she asked tentatively.

Azure shook her head, too busy running to talk. She turned a corner and knocked on the nurse's office door.

The angel looked around desperately, not finding what she was looking for. "Lloyd..." she sighed before shifting and fainting.

Azure ran her hand over the angel's wings, marveling at how silky soft they were. When she drew her hand back, it was covered in a thin layer of crimson liquid. Azure flipped the angel over to examine her a bit closer, when she noticed a bit of roof tile stuck into the main part of the wing. _Ouch, we gotta do something about that..._

A nurse answered the door, took one look at the condition of the two, and sighed.

"Ah goody, work to do. Looks like a long day today..."

The other dood yelped, she'd been surprised by the boy she was holding. The boy was flailing weakly, calling out in a hoarse whisper. A pair of translucent wings flowered out of his back, flapping with all the strength of a glass of water.

The nurse promptly brought them in, silencing the boy with a smart cuff on the head. He blacked out from the hit.

"Okay, let's take a look...the lady seems to be suffering from this tile wound and wing strain...the lad, well, he's got a million things up with 'im...I'll take a look. Both of you, back to class."

The other dood dashed off gladly, but Azure lingered behind, worried.

"You too, Azure! Now off with you!"

The nurse went to get a broom or some other blunt object to hit her with, which seemed to convince her, for there was no sign she ever was there when the nurse returned.

* * *

Azure ran down the hall, glad to be done with all her classes. She hoped no one said anything important, as she did nothing but doodle and worry. She'd imagined about the two mysterious children that appeared on the roof that one day, fantasizing. What was the relationship between them anyway? Perhaps she was a guardian angel, watching over the boy? Did guardian angels really exist? Or...maybe something else? She'd gotten all tied up in their hidden lives, making up things that were just as improbable as the last. 

"Aha, Azure, you're here," the nurse welcomed. Lately she'd become a daily visitor. "Come to see your angels?"

Azure nodded, entering quietly.

"I've some things to do. You watch them and see if they got any better, alright?" the nurse cackled, wandering off.

The female angel was stirring, waking slowly.

"Hey there," Azure exclaimed.

The girl froze in mid-stretch. "Uh...hello," she managed shyly.

"You had quite a fall the other day," Azure pointed to her wing, which was bandaged up tidily.

The angel tried flapping it. "It seems so..."

"So, what's your name?" Azure piped brightly.

The angel picked up a feather that had fallen on the ground before answering. And you?"

"You can call me Azure," she said proudly. "So, who's he?"

* * *

Azure sat down hear her friend and roommate Garnet, who chewed on a piece of toast idly. 

"Where've you been the last few days?" Garnet asked, putting a bit more sugar on her toast before returning to her lazy nibbling.

"Oh, places," Azure reached for something to eat.

"Indulge me," Garnet grinned.

Azure played with a salt shaker. "Well, between classes and studying, I've been going to the nurse's office to see the angels."

"I knew it!" Garnet said triumphantly, chomping on her toast.

"They're so cute, when they're asleep," Azure spun the salt shaker on itself. "Hey, don't you think that it might be...I dunno, fate that brought 'em here?" she asked, in a different tone.

"Corny alert," Garnet sighgroaned.

"No, I'm serious. I mean, they crash on our roof one day, right before the big final. It's like a blessing from above."

"For you," Garnet chuckled. "You can't keep your eyes open during class. That or you stick your nose in that drawing pad of yours."

"Hey!" Azure retorted, waving a spoon around. "It's not my fault that class is genuinely dull, dreary, mind-numbing! No one can stay alive during that course."

"I must be no one, then," Garnet countered.

Azure froze in mid-swing. "Awww...can I look at your notes, then?"

"My notes," Garnet mewled, noshing on her toast.

Azure twisted her friend's hand, grinning evilly. "I need your notes..." she said in a sing-song tone.

"Mercy!" Garnet cried, pulling a few sheets of paper from her book bag. "Here!"

"Okee day, let's see," Azure looked them over, deciphering Garnet's scribbly handwriting. "Angels are usually half-elves, blah blah blah...white, feathery wings...Crucis Crystal somewhere on their body, usually around the neck...characterized by their mechanical way of acting and lack of emotion..." Azure stopped there, thinking.

"Whaazzup?" Garnet said around her piece of toast, she'd gotten to the syrupy part.

"Just thinking...I mean, the two angels we've got aren't half-elves at all, but human. And the time I looked into that girl's eyes...they shined with...I dunno, intelligence."

"So!" Garnet began, munching on a particularly stubborn bit of her breakfast, "You're saying...angels are stupid?"

"No...I mean, that there was emotion behind those eyes, she wasn't some mindless machine. The boy as well, but he's got different wings, so I guess he's not, you know, fully matured into an angel quite yet."

"Interesting," Garnet swallowed the remainder of her toast. "Did you get any of their names?"

"I did, in fact," Azure chewed on a fingernail, trying to remember. "Ah yes, the girl was Colette, and she said the boy's name was Lloyd..."

Garnet blinked. "Last name?" she squealed, barely able to keep her excitement contained.

"Didn't get that. Why?"

Garnet said something among the lines of...never mind, I'm not going to say in case there are minors around. "Don't you know what this means, Bluu?" she hissed, using Azure's nickname.

Azure shook her head, clearly confused.

"You dolt! Those are the names of two of the people who went on the quest to unite the worlds!"

"Wasn't that a long time ago?" Azure ventured, completely clueless.

"Five years, fool. Don't you ever listen, even for five minutes?"

"Nope," Azure smiled, with a certain amount of roguish pride.

"Well, in summary, they left as teens to go regenerate the world, yada yada yada, and the result is this world we live in."

Azure scratched the back of her head, which she often did when deep in thought. "Wait...teens?"

Garnet reached for another piece of toast, her favorite pre-cramming snack. "Yeppers."

Azure snapped out of her little trance. "Ah...girl looked sixteen. Five years ago would mean she'd have been eleven when she started out."

Garnet looked quite funny with the piece of toast hanging half in and half out of her mouth.

"Shure?" talking around toast doesn't do well for pronouncing things right, as I think I said before.

Azure nodded absently and continued scratching at her head.

"Funny. So, basically, we've got two angels which time has left behind."

Azure took some toast herself. "Seems so."

* * *

Azure came into the office, noticing how quiet it was.

"Hallo?" she called out into the dark room.

"They're asleep now, so shoo," the nurse waved a broom at her.

"I just wanna know how they're doing," Azure whispered, dodging the broom.

"Ah," the nurse put the broom down. "Well, the lady will be fine, she just needs some rest, 's all. But if she tries to do any stressful work, she'll collapse. Perhaps be fatal, but she's zonked out anyway. On the other hand, it's the boy that's got the whole med staff on its head. We can't find what's wrong with him. We've treated all of the things we could identify, but there's this one problem that's got us stuck, and its killing him."

Azure froze. "He's dying?"

"Won't last the night, at this rate. Now out, I'm closing up."

Azure looked over the nurse's shoulder, trying to get a look at the two angels. Both were asleep, like she said.

"Okay," Azure said softly, moseyed out.

The nurse locked the door and walked away, probably to go home.

However, one of the angels _wasn't_ asleep...

* * *

_No, no, it can't be true..._

Colette looked at Lloyd's still body, the words of the nurse echoing in her head. Won't last the night...?

She inched over to him, holding his hand. "Lloyd, are you awake?"

He flipped over, obviously drained. "Colette."

She embraced him, afraid to let go. "Lloyd, don't leave me..."

He found the energy to nuzzle her reassuringly. "'M sorry."

His touch calmed her, but her mind raced two hundred miles an hour.

"Flanoir," he croaked.

Colette tensed. "Flanoir? What about it?"

"Wanna go," Lloyd yawned.

Colette picked him up delicately and tried to open the door, but it was locked from the outside as well as in.

She growled, gathering up her strength. Lloyd braced himself, snuggling closer to her body.

Colette placed her precious cargo down and rammed the door, making an impressively-sized hole in it. After lying breathless for a few seconds, she picked up Lloyd and made her way down the hall.

"Who's there?" a sleepy voice asked. Its owner, Azure, held up a lamp for light.

Colette squinted, unused to the sudden light source. "It's me," she answered. "Azure, I need a way out of here."

Azure blinked, as she often did when she paraded around without any glasses. "Uhm...right this way. Take a left, out the door, and you should be outside."

Colette nodded her thanks and fled.

"Ah well. Take care, you two," Azure waved, trotting off to go find something to drink.

* * *

Colette tried to land gracefully, or at least in a satisfactory manner, but she crash-landed into the snow in a most undignified way.

Lloyd didn't seem to mind, letting the snow alight on his face. On it was an expression of sleepy happiness.

"Snow!" he breathed.

Colette found herself growing weary. "Ah yes, the snow," she nestled in closer to him.

She wrapped her wings around him, noticing an unpleasant feeling in one of them. The tile wound had reopened and bled sluggishly.

Lloyd was now too weak to do anything but lay beside her, purring blissfully in a gentle way. She noticed herself fading as well.

She thought off-handedly about the things she'd never got to do, and the things she'd never get to do anymore. Then she chided herself for doing that, it didn't matter as long as she had Lloyd with her.

They snuggled closer together, enjoying their last warm moment.

**Author's parting words:**

If it makes you feel better, think of this as an alternate ending instead of an epilogue.

For fun, guess who the letter Raine receives is from and who sent the will (two different people)


End file.
